What’s Up?! The Next Blockbuster And Diverse Oscar Short Films

What’s up, good people?! Happy Valentine’s Day from itsashort.com (It’s The Day After, And We’re Still Celebrating)! Love is STRONG, and so is our affection for short films.

Speaking of love, audiences have been showing a lot of it to “Deadpool,” starring Ryan Reynolds. The film made a whopping $135 million this weekend.

But there is another monster blockbuster on the horizon, and it’s expected to drop in less than six weeks. “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” is projected to be the next major crowd pleaser. The film’s final trailer is phenomenal, and the early word is that Ben Affleck, who plays Batman, and Jesse Eisenberg, who plays villain Lex Luthor, are absolutely remarkable. See for youself:

According to Cinema Blend, this will be a critical film in laying the groundwork for future DC Comics-themed movies:

In addition to pitting the world’s most popular superheroes against each other, Batman v Superman also introduces Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) to the DC Extended Universe, and lays the groundwork for future Justice League movies.

The film hits theaters March 25, and itsashort.com cannot wait to be in attendance.

A True Valentine’s Day Delight

The Color of Her Dress/Tenth Gate Productions

But enough of that, what really has you inspired is all this talk about love. At itsashort.com, we have our Valentine’s Day faves like “Titanic,” “Casablanca,” “The Notebook” and “Love Jones.”

But what about romantic short films?

Folks, they do exist. One such work is “The Color of Her Dress,” a tantalizing piece that highlights the courtship of strangers.

Was it the color of her dress, the look in her eye, a stolen glance…can he conquer his fear and live his dream?

The film evokes all those sickly, sweet feelings of infatuation and desire. It’s a five -minute whirl of warmth, possibility and wanting. To get a taste of what we’re talking about, check out the trailer below:

Thanks to award-winning director James Poirier, you will want to repeatedly encounter this dizzying, five-minute dance. It is the perfect little ditty for Valentine’s Day in our estimation. You can register at itsashort.com and watch it in its entirety right here.

There Will Be Diversity At The Oscars

While folks remain fixated on the lack of diverse Oscar nominees in the acting and feature film categories, they have overlooked one particular subgenre: short films.

That’s right, the 15 Oscar-nominated short films in the live action, documentary and animated categories are some of the most diverse and wide-ranging offerings of the program. And according to a recent report in USA Today,

Roughly 30% of the nominated shorts are by female filmmakers, and more than a dozen countries are represented, including Chile (Bear Story), Russia (We Can’t Live Without Cosmos) and Pakistan (A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness).

We previewed one of the nominees here, the Disney Pixar-animated short “Sanjay’s Super Team,” about a young Indian boy contending with the modern world and his family’s Hindu traditions. The film is reportedly the frontrunner to garner the Oscar for the Short Film (Animated) category.

The frontrunner for the Short Film (Live Action) award is “Ava Maria,” by British-Palestinian director Basil Khalil. Believe it or not, it is a comedy involving nuns, five Palestinian nuns to be exact. They are forced to break their rituals when an Israeli family’s vehicle breaks down outside their convent. Check out the trailer below:

Another Oscar favorite in the Short Film (Documentary) category is Body Team 12, a harrowing work about Ebola in the African Nation of Liberia. Humanitarian David Darg, who shot the film, embedded himself with a team that collected and cremated the bodies of Ebola virus victims.

The trailer itself is heart-rending:

The fact that these Oscar short films truly reflect the diversity of our world is encouraging. You can also watch all of these shorts at a theater near you. Stay tuned for the 88th Annual Academy Awards with host Chris Rock, who will certainly have his joke pistol locked and loaded. Itsashort.com hopes he can save some of that ammo to highlight these awesome and wonderfully diverse short films.

Don’t you agree?

Our Mission

We love short films. Plus, we at itsashort.com want to introduce audiences to award-winning and award-nominated artists who create movies, web series and videos. Check out itsashort.com and register to see the wonderful work of these creatives here.

It is great that women are getting some representation, especially in shorts, but still more diversity is needed. Not to discount that diversity but there is much growth to be had, especially in the context of race.

I can’t wait to see ‘Batman vs. Superman.’ I wasn’t excited about Ben Affleck being cast as Batman but we shall see how he does in the role. I love Henry Cavill as the new Superman. I thought he was fabulous in ‘Man of Steel.’